Entries in Deval Patrick
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ABC News(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) -- On the heels of his widely acclaimed speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., this week, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick won’t rule out a future bid for the White House, but a campaign for president in 2016 will not happen, he told ABC News’ senior political correspondent Jonathan Karl.

“If there is a time sometime later to come back and serve in public life, I hope I’m able to do that. Just not going to be in 2016,” he added.

Questioned on why he was so tough on Mitt Romney’s record on the economy as governor of Massachusetts, given a 4.7 state unemployment rate at the time, the current Democratic governor told Karl that the commonwealth was “trailing the national trend,” and, “Mitt Romney was a custodial governor.”

“The question is not what the unemployment rate is in some abstract sense. It’s: Are we moving in a positive direction and are we bucking trends? Are we shaping our own future?” Patrick said. “We weren’t staking our own course, we weren’t shaping our own future, we were kind of slipping along.”

Asked whether Democrats have been too focused on what’s wrong with Romney and Republicans instead of making a clear case for Democrats, Patrick admitted “both campaigns have focused a lot of time and attention on what’s wrong with the other guy.”

“I understand the importance of contrast in all that, but I hope that starting with this convention, and I think you saw that last night, we’re gonna start to turn our focus to our own way forward and our own plan for the next four years and why this is the right leader, in President Barack Obama, to get us there,” he said.

Patrick said the Democratic strategy is “not a political strategy but a growth strategy,” and, despite a $16 trillion national debt, Democrats are focused on “investing in education, in innovation, in energy, and in infrastructure.”

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Facing an oncoming federal budget crisis, Republican governors Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Jan Brewer of Arizona both said a government shutdown would not be productive for the country.

"I think government is a necessary evil," Brewer said. "But it's necessary to provide services, and they should be able to come to some solution. We need to trim the budget and move on."

"We appreciate our public employees but our job as governor is to look after our taxpayers," Haley added.

Along with Brewer and Haley, two other governors -- Democrats Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and John Hickenlooper of Colorado -- joined in a round-table discussion with ABC News to discuss the possible government shutdown.

A longtime friend and supporter of President Obama, Patrick said the fiscal crisis was a "real opportunity" to learn how Americans want the government to function.

"All of us are dealing with these kinds of challenges, and trying to get our budget gaps closed," Patrick said. "There's another way, it's about turning towards each other instead of against each other."

Haley, at 39 years old the youngest governor ever elected, praised the GOP's proposed plan for $50 million in spending cuts, but said she felt it was Obama's responsibility to listen to Republican legislators instead of forcing Republicans to listen to his plan.

"[The Republicans] are just doing what the people are asking of them," she said.

The effort to slash the federal budget could cause difficulties for Brewer and Arizona, because one of the proposed cuts would mean 685 fewer border patrol agents. The Republican governor acknowledged that fewer border patrol agents could be a problem for all the states that share a border with Mexico.

"I believe we need as much resources as necessary to get our borders secured," Brewer said. "I hope that will be reinstated. We all know that Arizona is the gateway for illegal immigration, and the drug smuggling and the drug cartel. ...We're going to continue fighting the battle on our border."

Patrick repeatedly touted how Massachusetts was able to "close huge budget gaps" successfully, including in education spending, and Hickenlooper defended his proposed $300 million in spending cuts for Colorado.

"We have to balance the budget and get back on the fiscal track," Hickenlooper said. "For one year, we're going to have to retrench with less money."﻿

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(BOSTON) -- ABC News projects the Massachusetts governor's seat will go to incumbent Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick, a close friend of President Obama who came to the state to stump for him.

Patrick narrowly beat out Republican Charles Baker in a race that was so tight as the campaigns were winding down that Obama worked hard to drum up support for the black candidate in a relatively white state.

What fueled this heated battle was the unprecedented number of independent voters. According to the Washington Post, a whopping 52 percent of Massachusetts' 4.2 million registered voters surveyed said they were undecided heading into the polls.

Former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain was in California on Saturday to campaign for Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, who is facing incumbent Barbara Boxer.

“[Fiorina] will never waive the white flag of surrender the way that Barbara Boxer has tried to do every single time we have been in a conflict,” he said. “Barbara Boxer is the most bitterly partisan, the most anti-defense senator in the U.S. Senate today. I know that because I have had the unpleasant experience of having to serve with her.”

McCain made no mention of former running mate Sarah Palin, who was campaigning for Republicans an hour and a half away in Anaheim.

“You fire [Nancy] Pelosi, retire [Harry] Reid, and their whole band of merry followers,” Palin told a crowd in Anaheim, Calif., “and we get back on the right track.”

Palin is in high demand on the campaign trail, but not for every GOP candidate. ABC News political director Amy Walter says the former vice presidential candidate’s strong ties to the Tea Party worry some Republican leaders.

“They want to appeal to independent voters,” Walter said. “They want to look like an independent voice. They do not want to look like they’re beholden to either this Tea Party concept or to Sarah Palin.”

President Obama, in Massachusetts for Democratic Governor Deval Patrick Saturday, said that Republicans have continually denied his party’s efforts, hoping to ride a wave of frustration to the ballot box.

“I understand that sometimes hope may have faded as we grinded out this work over the last several years,” the president said. “You're watching TV and all you see is politicians tearing each other down and pundits who treat politics like a sport. I know it can be discouraging. But don't ever let anybody tell you this fight isn't worth it.”

It is a fight that has caused conflict among some Democrats, with leaders cutting funding to some of their own incumbents in the house; seats they believe are already lost.

“This is firewall politics,” said Walter. “This is protecting what you can and letting those who you know can't win, fall off. It is very cold blooded.”

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(BOSTON) -- President Obama traveled to Massachusetts on Saturday to boost an old friend’s reelection bid.

“The reason I came today isn’t just because Deval has been there for me as a friend, it’s because he continues to inspire me as a leader,” President Obama said about Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick.

The nation’s only black governor, Patrick was an early and aggressive supporter of President Obama’s White House run. Then a U.S. senator, Obama campaigned for Patrick during his first run for governor in 2006.

The president’s swing through Boston came the day after a stop for Democratic Senate candidate Chris Coons in Delaware and one day before a trip to Ohio for Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democratic candidates. In a campaign first this election, First Lady Michelle Obama will join the president in Ohio. She and the president have been out on the stump this past week trying to motivate Democrats not to sit out this election.

The president was interrupted on at least two occasions by protestors calling for more AIDS funding.

Patrick is in a close battle with Republican candidate Charles Baker. Timothy Cahill is running as an independent.